► The concluded but yet to be ratified TransPacific Partnership (TPP) as of July 26, 2016, has attracted significant public attention on the trade negotiations regarding…
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▼ The concluded but yet to be ratified TransPacific Partnership (TPP) as of July 26, 2016, has attracted significant public attention on the trade negotiations regarding agriculture between the United States and Japan. The negotiation was
stalled numerous times due to Japan's reluctance in liberalizing its agricultural market. The first of three essays examines the difficulties in liberalizing Japan's agricultural market. The research finds that the difficulties lie in Japan's five
politically sensitive subsectors which include rice, beef and pork, wheat and barley, sugar, and dairy, none of which contain Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). Under full liberalization and treating commodities in these subsectors as homogeneous,
Japanese producers in these subsectors will lose (e.g., rice producers will lose over US$6 billion). While the specific effects of the negotiated TPP are not analyzed, for example an 11 percent reduction in beef tariffs in the first year, the free trade
scenario analyzed gives the direction of welfare effects, and more importantly, the protection cost of these five "sacred" subsectors afforded by the Japanese government. These results indicate that excluding butter, the trade impact of the TPP on the
Japanese government will be negative because of tariff and resale-revenue losses. For producers who lose from trade liberalization, the Japanese government will provide compensation.
Advisors/Committee Members: SEALE,JAMES L,JR (committee chair), VANSICKLE,JOHN J (committee member), HAMILTON,JONATHANH (committee member).

► The first chapter considers a vertically differentiated products market, in which consumers internalize the environmental harm caused by the products they consume. A brown incumbent…
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▼ The first chapter considers a vertically differentiated products market, in which consumers internalize the environmental harm caused by the products they consume. A brown incumbent falsely represents its product as more green than it actually is. Consumers' beliefs regarding the harm caused by consuming the incumbent's variant determine whether a greener entrant can profitably enter the market. Greenwash by the incumbent firm serves profitably to increase its own market share, but it may also have important implications for the market structure. I show that 1) consumers benefit from false advertising when entry is not deterred, and when consumers are able to correctly identify the incumbent's variant as the dirtier product; 2) reductions in the fixed cost of entry always benefit consumers; 3) entry always increases the aggregate amount of environmental harm; and 4) reductions in the fixed cost of entry always harm the environment. These results
may inform market regulators and environmental groups that wish to combat (or facilitate) false advertising by polluting firms.
Advisors/Committee Members: HAMILTON,JONATHANH (committee chair), SLUTSKY,STEVEN M (committee member), MITRA,DEBANJAN (committee member).

► The commercial success or failure of engineered systems has always been significantly affected by their interactions with competing designs, end users, and regulatory bodies. Designs…
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▼ The commercial success or failure of engineered systems has always been significantly affected by their interactions with competing designs, end users, and regulatory bodies. Designs which deliver too little performance, have too high a cost,
or are deemed unsafe or harmful will inevitably be overcome by competing designs which better meet the needs of customers and society as a whole. Recent efforts to address these issues have led to techniques such as design for customers or design for
market systems.
Advisors/Committee Members: HAFTKA,RAPHAEL TUVIA (committee chair), SCHUELLER,JOHN KENNETH (committee member), HAMILTON,JONATHANH (committee member).

► This dissertation examines the determinants of corporate debt maturity choice as well as the drivers of corporate debt specialization. The first part of this dissertation…
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▼ This dissertation examines the determinants of corporate debt maturity choice as well as the drivers of corporate debt specialization. The first part of this dissertation examines the importance of gap filling behavior, in which highly rated
issuers fill gaps in the supply of long-term government bonds, as a determinant of very long-term corporate debt issues, using a large sample of individual corporate bonds and term loans issued by public U.S. companies between 1987 and 2009. It documents
that gap filling behavior is more prominent in the very long end of the maturity spectrum where the required risk capital makes it difficult for arbitrageurs to smooth out supply shocks. Moreover, it provides evidence that changes in the supply of
long-term government bonds not only affect the choice of maturity but also the level of corporate borrowing. The second part of this dissertation analyzes why some firms borrow primarily using one type of debt, and thereby specialize their debt structure,
while other firms diversify across different debt types, and how this tendency for specialization is related to financial distress costs. It documents that debt specialization is only loosely correlated with creditor concentration (i.e. the number of
creditors holding the debt). Additionally, it provides evidence that firms shift their debt structure away from dispersedly held debt towards more concentrated debt in response to declining operating performance. Furthermore, it documents that companies
that primarily rely on concentrated intermediated bank debt recover faster from industry wide downturns than firms with more diverse debt structures, but that their reliance on intermediated bank debt leaves them more vulnerable to solvency and liquidity
shocks to the banking sector. ( en )
Advisors/Committee Members: JAMES,CHRISTOPHER (committee chair), NARANJO,ANDY (committee member), HAMILTON,JONATHANH (committee member).

► The dissertation consists of two essays estimating the trade and public health affect international policy has had the less-developed world. The first chapter estimates the…
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▼ The dissertation consists of two essays estimating the trade and public health affect international policy has had the less-developed world. The first chapter estimates the impact an a policy has had on a countries ability to gain access to
pharmaceuticals relative to other countries. Chapter 2 uses the intent of international policy to offer insight into their effectives in improving the public health of less-developed countries.
Advisors/Committee Members: HAMILTON,JONATHANH (committee chair), AI,CHUNRONG (committee member), PARK,HAESUK (committee member).

Grooms, J. T. (2016). Essays on Diseases of the Developing World and International Policy. (Doctoral Dissertation). University of Florida. Retrieved from https://ufdc.ufl.edu/UFE0049934

Chicago Manual of Style (16th Edition):

Grooms, Jevay T. “Essays on Diseases of the Developing World and International Policy.” 2016. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Florida. Accessed June 07, 2020.
https://ufdc.ufl.edu/UFE0049934.

MLA Handbook (7th Edition):

Grooms, Jevay T. “Essays on Diseases of the Developing World and International Policy.” 2016. Web. 07 Jun 2020.

Vancouver:

Grooms JT. Essays on Diseases of the Developing World and International Policy. [Internet] [Doctoral dissertation]. University of Florida; 2016. [cited 2020 Jun 07].
Available from: https://ufdc.ufl.edu/UFE0049934.

Council of Science Editors:

Grooms JT. Essays on Diseases of the Developing World and International Policy. [Doctoral Dissertation]. University of Florida; 2016. Available from: https://ufdc.ufl.edu/UFE0049934

► Institutions play a major role in many economic settings. The rules that economic actors follow shape their behavior, regardless of whether these rules are set…
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▼ Institutions play a major role in many economic settings. The rules that economic actors follow shape their behavior, regardless of whether these rules are set by a regulatory body, the government, or convention. It is interesting
to examine scenarios in which these rules lead to unexpected economic outcomes. Chapter 1 examines the role of tariffs in national welfare. In Chapter 1 I develop a monopolistically competitive model of one-way trade flows with firm
heterogeneity across marginal costs in order to endogenize the competitiveness of the market. I use these endogenous variables to analyze how trade policy impacts the welfare of consumers in a small country. In this model, I introduce fixed
exporting costs to address the role they play in terms of welfare in the face of trade policy. Both fixed exporting costs and tariffs directly influence the competitiveness of the exporting market. In simulations, this model predicts that in the
presence of fixed exporting costs, tariffs actually reduces welfare less than when fixed exporting costs are absent. This model is useful for expanding on previous work regarding how fixed exporting costs can impact welfare in small countries.
In Chapter 2 I expand on existing research regarding settlement failures in labor contract negotiations. Testing two proposed explanations (error in player evaluation vs. differing levels of risk aversion), I find that each plays a role in failed
negotiations within the context of final offer arbitration in Major League Baseball. It appears that when players submit offers during arbitration, they take on higher levels of risk than the negotiating team. At the same time, it appears that
clubs tend to better predict the arbitrator’s preferences. Thus aggressive offers on the part of players lead to lower salaries. An aggressive offer by the ball club also results in lower salaries as well. In addition, I look at how
behavior changes with experience, and find that with experience players are likely to estimate the arbitrators’’ perception of their value much more accurately. ( en )
Advisors/Committee Members: HAMILTON,JONATHANH (committee chair), DENSLOW,DAVID A,JR (committee member), MCGILL,GARY A (committee member).

► In this dissertation, we first consider a competitive facility location problem when the competitive firms are identical. Competing firms simultaneously determine their facility location and…
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▼ In this dissertation, we first consider a competitive facility location problem when the competitive firms are identical. Competing firms simultaneously determine their facility location and distribution quantity decisions on a congested
distribution network. Each firm may locate more than one facility simultaneously. We adopt a two-stage solution approach to analyze the resulting symmetric competitive multi-facility location problem. First, the firms? supply quantity decisions are
solved, given that the firms have chosen identical facility locations. Then, we focus on the firms? facility location decisions, and explain why the firms choose identical facility locations. A heuristic solution method is proposed for determining
high-quality solution for the first stage. Numerical studies are conducted to illustrate the efficiency of our heuristic method. We then use the aforementioned setting and analyses of the symmetric competitive multi-facility location game to analyze the
effects of traffic congestion on supply chain activities. We utilize the model to provide analytical characterization of the effects of traffic congestion costs on equilibrium distribution flows. We present the results of extensive numerical studies to
further illustrate the effects of traffic congestion costs on location, market supply quantity, and distribution decisions. Next, we study the competitive multi-facility location game with traffic congestion costs when the firms are non-identical. Similar
to the symmetric case, we utilize a two-stage solution approach. However, heterogeneity of the competing firms requires distinct solution approaches in each stage. Particularly, firms? market-supply decisions
Advisors/Committee Members: Geunes, Joseph P (committee chair), Pardalos, Panagote M (committee member), Smith, Jonathan (committee member), Hamilton, JonathanH (committee member).

► In 1996, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) sought to transform the wholesale electricity market with a series of market rules. A product of these…
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▼ In 1996, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) sought to transform the wholesale electricity market with a series of market rules. A product of these rules was the establishment of regional transmission organizations (RTOs) and
independent system operators (ISOs) charged with facilitating equal access to the transmission grid for electricity suppliers. The effect of these changes in market structure remains an open question. This dissertation attempts to quantify the impacts of
this change in market strucuture in addressing important policy issues facing the electricity sector. The first essay utilizes a panel data set of the 48 contiguous United States and a treatment effects model in first differences to determine whether
there have been changes in delivered electric prices as a result of the establishment of ISOs and RTOs. This estimation shows that electricity prices fall approximately 4.8% in the first 2 years of an ISO’s operation and that this result is statistically
significant. However, this result is dependent on the presence of states that restructured their electricity markets. When these restructured states are removed from the data set the price effects of RTOs become indistinguishable from zero. The second
essay utilizes the diversity of the United States electricity market and a panel data set of electric utilities for the period 1990-2009 to study the effects that RTOs have had on the trade of wholesale electricity. It finds that the presence of a
transparent wholesale marketplace for electricity has the effect of increasing participation, but that this participation occurs asymmetrically across types of electric utilities. The third essay utilizes a model that simulates the dispatch of electric
generating units in the state of Florida under various prices for CO2 emissions, and analyzes the challenges that may arise in the determination of optimal emissions abatement policy. It finds that the rate of abatement varies considerably with the price
of CO2 emissions. It demonstrates how the incremental cost curve of emissions abatement may intersect with a CO2 tax at many levels of abatement, allowing for different characterizations of the ‘optimum’. ( en )
Advisors/Committee Members: Sappington, David (committee chair), Hamilton, JonathanH (committee member), Berg, Sanford V (committee member), Moss, Charles Britt (committee member).

▼ The inclusion of financial derivatives in numerous tax shelters suggests tax avoidance is an economically significant, yet previously underexplored, aspect of their use. Accordingly, this study investigates the role of derivatives in corporate tax avoidance. First, the study develops a framework describing why the fundamental, transactional, tax reporting and cognitive features of derivatives are useful for avoiding taxes, and then demonstrates how by using the framework to dissect two derivative-based tax shelters. The discussion reveals that by allowing taxpayers to design transactions that alter the timing, character, and source of gains and losses, derivatives provide opportunities to exploit ambiguity in the tax code with a seemingly low probability of detection by tax authorities. Thus, derivatives are sophisticated tax planning tools that can work in isolation or concomitantly with other tax planning strategies.
Advisors/Committee Members: McGill, Gary A (committee chair), Kramer, Sandra S (committee member), Knechel, W. Robert (committee member), Hamilton, JonathanH (committee member).

► The dissertation consists of three chapters. The first chapter "A new market model for a fishery: individual quotas, welfare loss, and strategic interaction in international…
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▼ The dissertation consists of three chapters. The first chapter "A new market model for a fishery: individual quotas, welfare loss, and strategic interaction in international markets." is an analysis of an international fishery. These issues
are analyzed in the context of strategic interaction between states sharing a single fishery (the best example being British Columbia and Alaska) where behavior of one state can influence behavior of the other. I create a model that allows evaluating
welfare impact of the different regulation types (total allowable catch and individual quotas) and identifying situations in which implementation of a system that is generally believed to be superior leads to actual decrease in market performance. It
turns out that under some plausible circumstances (inelastic demand and short fishing season) introduction of supposedly better system will lead to a welfare loss. It also turns out that if regulator is worried mostly about consumer surplus, the adoption
of more efficient system may never happen. Also, in this cases international coordination may be needed to introduce individual quotas.
Advisors/Committee Members: HAMILTON,JONATHANH (committee chair), AI,CHUNRONG (committee member), LARKIN,SHERRY L (committee member).

► Despite extensive theoretical literature on bargaining, there are very few empirical studies on bargaining. This dissertation aims to fill this gap. Chapter 1 introduces the…
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▼ Despite extensive theoretical literature on bargaining, there are very few empirical studies on bargaining. This dissertation aims to fill this gap. Chapter 1 introduces the dissertation and describes the eBay Motors market structure. Chapter
2 presents a fractional logit model for a reduced form approach studying the determinants of a seller's choice between bargaining vs. posted prices. I find that sellers with weaker bargaining power (in the form of lower patience, lower outside options,
and/or higher seller competition) are likely to adopt bargaining. In Chapter 3, using an IV approach to study the simultaneity between a seller's choice of markup and his choice of BO, I find opposing results to the results in Chen et. al. (2016): I find
that sellers that use BO charge lower markups than the ones that use the posted price method. I also find that a patient seller chooses not to negotiate and charges a higher markup. Finally, in Chapter 4, I study the impact of markup, BO, and the
interaction of markup on BO on the likelihood of selling, on the time it takes for a car to sell, and on the transaction price of a car. I find that BO increases the probability of selling for cars that have a markup of at least 10.8 percent, but
decreases the probability of selling for all cars with a markup lower than 10.8 percent. I find that an increase in the markup of a car leads to a higher transaction price by 40.3 percent, but an increase in markup also decreases the probability of a car
selling. Here, BO provides an indirect benefit: using BO reduces this negative impact of increasing a markup, by 29 percent. In terms of a direct benefit of BO on the transaction price, I find that for markups higher than 13 percent BO increases the
transaction price of the car, but lowers the transaction price for cars with markups lower than 13 percent. Therefore, using a higher markup and using BO on a sufficiently high markup has many benefits for the seller, even though this increases the time
for selling the car substantially. ( en )
Advisors/Committee Members: SLUTSKY,STEVEN M (committee chair), KENNY,LAWRENCE W (committee member), HAMILTON,JONATHANH (committee member), MITRA,DEBANJAN (committee member).

► This dissertation introduces time-inconsistent preferences into a model of farmland values by including a quasi-hyperbolic discount parameter in the asset equation of nine agricultural regions…
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▼ This dissertation introduces time-inconsistent preferences into a model of farmland values by including a quasi-hyperbolic discount parameter in the asset equation of nine agricultural regions in the United States. Many studies have rejected
the standard present value model under rational expectations as a viable model for explaining farmland values in both domestic and international data. Previous inquiries into the nature of farmland values assume a time-consistent discount factor and do
not seriously investigate the role of intertemporal preferences. Strong evidence is found in favor of quasi-hyperbolic discounting as a more appropriate way of describing the discount structure in models of farmland values. Previous studies on
time-inconsistent preferences and intertemporal choice have been largely ignored by the agricultural economics literature and so this dissertation represents an attempt to bridge the gap within the context of farmland. Current models of farmland values
inadequately explain why land prices rise and fall faster than land rents, particularly in the short-run. Various explanations as to why significant short-run deviations occur in the discounted farmland values formulation have been offered, but none have
focused on intertemporal preferences. This study introduces intertemporal inconsistency into a model of land values and tests for the presence of quasi-hyperbolic discounting in the farmland asset equation. By introducing quasi-hyperbolic discounting to
the present-value model of farmland values, the discount factor can be broken down into two time-specific rates, the short-run discount rate and the long-run discount rate. Quasi-hyperbolic discounting implies a discount rate that declines over time,
unlike standard exponential discounting which implies a discount rate that remains unchanged across the time horizon. Using a time-inconsistent discount factor, like a quasi-hyperbolic one, allows time preferences in the short-run to be different than in
the long-run . Thus, the model offers an explanation as to why short-run and long-run land values do not follow the same path. The theoretical formulation in this paper generalizes time preferences to permit for quasi-hyperbolic discounting in the asset
equation and allows values of the exponential and quasi-hyperbolic discount parameters to be obtained in the empirical model. A hypothesis test is constructed, permitting for a direct test on the discount parameters. Using the linear panel Generalized
Method of Moments estimator, problems of heteroskedasticity and serial correlation are reduced. The empirical results show significant support for the notion that intertemporal preferences in farmland values are better described under quasi-hyperbolic
preferences. The results of the hypothesis tests imply a formal rejection that short-run discount rates are equal to long-run discount rates, and that the short-run discount rates are substantially larger than the long-run discount rates, a new result in
the literature on farmland values. The results…
Advisors/Committee Members: Moss, Charles B. (committee chair), Taylor, Timothy G. (committee member), Schmitz, Andrew (committee member), Hamilton, JonathanH. (committee member).

Salois, M. (2008). Intertemporal Preferences and Time-Inconsistency The Case of Farmland Values and Rural-Urban Land Conversion. (Doctoral Dissertation). University of Florida. Retrieved from https://ufdc.ufl.edu/UFE0022425

Chicago Manual of Style (16th Edition):

Salois, Matthew. “Intertemporal Preferences and Time-Inconsistency The Case of Farmland Values and Rural-Urban Land Conversion.” 2008. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Florida. Accessed June 07, 2020.
https://ufdc.ufl.edu/UFE0022425.

Salois M. Intertemporal Preferences and Time-Inconsistency The Case of Farmland Values and Rural-Urban Land Conversion. [Doctoral Dissertation]. University of Florida; 2008. Available from: https://ufdc.ufl.edu/UFE0022425

► Environmental issues have become a key political issue over the past forty years and has resulted in the enactment of many different environmental policies. The…
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▼ Environmental issues have become a key political issue over the past forty years and has resulted in the enactment of many different environmental policies. The three essays in this dissertation add to the literature of renewable energy
policies and sulfur dioxide emissions trading. The first essay ascertains which state policies are accelerating deployment of non-hydropower renewable electricity generation capacity into a states electric power industry. As would be expected, policies
that lead to significant increases in actual renewable capacity in that state either set a Renewables Portfolio Standard with a certain level of required renewable capacity or use Clean Energy Funds to directly fund utility-scale renewable capacity
construction. A surprising result is that Required Green Power Options, a policy that merely requires all utilities in a state to offer the option for consumers to purchase renewable energy at a premium rate, has a sizable impact on non-hydro renewable
capacity in that state. The second essay studies the theoretical impacts fuel contract constraints have on a electricity generating unit's compliance costs of meeting the emissions compliance restrictions set by Phase I of the Title IV SO2 Emissions
Trading Program. Fuel contract constraints restrict a utility?s degrees of freedom in coal purchasing options, which can lead to the use of a more expensive compliance option and higher compliance costs. The third essay analytically and empirically shows
how fuel contract constraints impact the emissions allowance market and total electric power industry compliance costs. This paper uses generating unit-level simulations to replicate results from previous studies and show that fuel contracts appear to
explain a large portion (65%) of the previously unexplained compliance cost simulations. Also, my study considers a more appropriate plant-level decisions for compliance choices by analytically analyzing the plant-level decision-making process to show how
cost-minimization at the more complex plant-level may deviate from cost-minimization at the generating unit level. ( en )
Advisors/Committee Members: Kenny, Lawrence W. (committee chair), Hamilton, JonathanH. (committee member), Berg, Sanford V. (committee member), Luzar, E. Jane (committee member).

► This dissertation consists of three main chapters. The first chapter examines the impact of the quality of information that lenders gather about potential borrowers on…
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▼ This dissertation consists of three main chapters. The first chapter examines the impact of the quality of information that lenders gather about potential borrowers on interest rates. Banks observe private signals and price to borrowers
according to a previously announced pricing policy. An equilibrium is found in price policy functions. This chapter shows that efficiency can be achieved more easily in markets where different lenders specialize in specific types of borrowers with whom
they have a considerable informational advantage. On the other hand, more symmetric markets allow for higher profits for the lender with an informational disadvantage. The second chapter analyzes both endogenous bank preference formation and lender
switching problems in the context of an optimal stopping problem. The model is developed around a group of safe and risky borrowers that search for a lender to finance a particular project. Depending on the rentability of the projects and the differences
in projects? risk, borrowers select a bank. Low quality signals generate pooling equilibria where either low risk projects subsidize high profits of risky projects, or only risky projects are funded in early periods. High quality signals on the other hand
generate more efficient markets. The third chapter?s main goal is to analyze analysts? coverage of stocks. Here an empirical study estimates the relationship between coverage and the informational environment of a firm. Coverage seems to decrease on
average with higher errors in estimation. The data also shows that physically large firms experience a resistance of their coverage to get reduced. Higher past revisions also decrease coverage showing a real cost of uncertainty. Finally, evidence suggests
that firms with higher market value have lower probabilities to have their coverage increased. ( en )
Advisors/Committee Members: Hamilton, JonathanH. (committee chair), Ai, Chunrong (committee member), Sappington, David (committee member), Flannery, Mark J. (committee member), Robinson, Paul L. (committee member).